German former President receives tributes in state funeral

German former President Richard von Weizsaecker, who passed away at 94 on January 31, was given a state funeral in Berlin on Wednesday and received tributes for helping Germany to face its history and promoting his country's reunification.

More than 1,000 mourners including German incumbent President Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel and other current officials and politicians gathered at the Berlin Cathedral and paid their last respect to Weizsaecker who lied in a coffin covered by a German national flag.

Gauck said his predecessor was an "outstanding president" and earned his country "worldwide respect and sympathy".

"We bow to Richard von Weizsaecker, a great President, who, when it was his turn, said and did the right thing," Gauck said.

Weizsaecker was born in April 1920 in the German city of Stuttgart. He was the Mayor of West Berlin from 1981 to 1984. During his presidency between 1984 and 1994, Weizsaecker promoted and oversaw the reunification of Germany.

As president, he received great international recognition for a speech on May 8, 1985, the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Weizsaecker described in his address May 8 as the "day of liberation from the inhuman system of National Socialist tyranny", and urged his country to confront its Nazi past.

"All of us, whether guilty or not, whether young or old, must accept the past," he said. "Anyone who closes his eyes to the past is blind to the present."

Weizsaecker "has given the world new trust in our country", said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier who also attended the memorial service. Endit